Olivia and Luke
By Liana Chen
In a medium sized modern house in Massachusetts, the sun was warm and a kitten
named Olivia, was gladly solo. She was playing with her ball of yarn, expecting her owner to
come home with kitten food.

The slam of the car door awoke Olivia. She ran to the door and waited. The clinking
of her owner’s keys, unlocking the door got her excited. She sat down and waited patiently
so she could have as much food as possible. Her owner opened the door, and the smell of
the food made Olivia’s mouth water.

There was something unusual right next to it. Olivia focused her eyes on a cage. It
was similar to the one she was in when she got adopted. It took a while for her to think
about what was happening. She looked at the blanket covered cage. There was complete
silence for a second and suddenly, she heard a bark and fearfully sprinted to her playroom.

Her owner rushed to catch up with Olivia, and released the puppy to lead him to
Olivia. “Olivia! Meet Luke!” the owner shouted. Olivia was not happy with Luke, or even with
any animal in the house.
When the owner reached the playroom, she closed the door and allowed them to
bond. Luke wanted to be friends with Olivia, so he ran up to her. Olivia panicked, and
instantly jumped onto the bed. She shoved herself under the pillow to hide. Luke stopped,
and tried to follow her, but he couldn’t jump as high! Their owner kept them separate when
they ate lunch far away from each other, but Luke tried to come closer to Olivia.
Late at night, the owner tried to make them sleep together. That did not work out as
she had hoped so Instead, she put Luke’s bed in the living room and decided to work
something out in the morning.

“Let’s go outside!” she exclaimed the next day. Luke took awhile to register what
she said. He got up, and ran as fast as he could while Olivia was resting in her owner’s
arms, not as energetic as usual. She picked up a ball, grabbed a blanket, and her duck toy
on the way.
The owner settled Olivia on the grass and covered her with a blanket. When her
owner faced away, Olivia opened one eye. Olivia wanted to play, but she was scared. The
owner threw the ball and Luke ran after it as fast as lightning. Luke thought for a moment
and slowed down halfway. He realized Olivia was scared of him. Olivia watched but
couldn’t resist.

Olivia ran as fast as she could, turning her head to look at her owner. Then she
looked at Luke, wondering why he slowed down and concentrated back on the ball. She
was already two feet away from the ball! She panicked and slowed down, stopping a
centimeter next to the ball. She paused and thought for one second and picked up the ball.
She ran back to her owner and stared at Luke.
“Why did you stop?” The owner questioned Luke nicely, petting his ears. Luke
wanted to be friends with Olivia, not enemies. Luke got a treat for giving up the ball, while
Olivia was behind her owner’s foot, looking at Luke, surprised and scared.

When it was lunch time, Olivia was starving. She finished the fish within five minutes
and waited patiently for more. Luke looked up and noticed Olivia was staring at the food so
he pushed his water bowl to her. Olivia tilted her head at him weirdly and Luke wagged his
tail happily, and nodded his head in sureness. Olivia drank the water and thanked Luke by
letting him play with her squeaky duck.

Their owner grabbed two leashes and a frisbee. She asked Luke, “Wanna go
walkies?” Luke jumped around and Olivia followed. The owner took a fish and a doggy
treat. She held it at hip level. “Sit. Stayyyy. Good boy! Good girl!”

She went outside and walked to the field. She threw the frisbee, and Olivia raced
Luke to it. Luke was kind enough to give it to Olivia, but Olivia let Luke have it. They chased
each other instead. Luke gave the ball back to the owner and started chasing Olivia. The
owner sat down and watched them chase each other. She grinned and relaxed. She was
glad everything was fixed.